Institutional players are increasingly shorting market volatility right now.

The net VIX futures positioning held by asset managers has cratered to -$36.6 million—the lowest since August 2024. That's pretty extreme when you zoom out: excluding those summer months, we're looking at the weakest reading in nearly a decade.

This represents a major shift in how big money is positioned across the volatility complex. The data paints a clear picture: institutions are banking hard that turbulence won't spike anytime soon.